


A Dying Fire

by Inumaru12



Series: Like Rainbow Colored Playdoh (All Meshed Together) [2]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, I tried to give riku and kairi actual scenes together, Kairi and Riku love their best friend and are very worried, M/M, Riku Centric, Riku is in love with Sora, but is it really one sided? we just don't know, past parental death, since apparently showing their friendship in kh3 wasnt allowed, talks of possible self harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-22 23:48:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17672399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inumaru12/pseuds/Inumaru12
Summary: Riku thinks of Sora and he thinks blue skies, the sound of laughter and his endless smiles given freely.  Riku looks at Sora now and thinks of an overcast sky, a dying fire, and that empty feeling with you’ve lost something important to you.  Riku isn’t sure why Sora is so different now, but he’s sure he’ll get better.  He’s Sora, he always gets up whenever something pushes him down…right?





	A Dying Fire

**Author's Note:**

> So this is just the first part from Riku POV! Next part will be from Vanitas' pov and backstory stuff. I'm in the middle of writing it rn, but I hope to have it done by today or the next! After that, the updates will prob slow down a bit bc I'm going back to work tomorrow (i'm on vacation right now) ;w; Also, while Kairi is featured heavily in this part, she'll prob have her own part along the road because she deserves to have the character development that KH3 robbed from her. I'm still salty about how she was treated in the game (: 
> 
> Anyway, enough ranting from me. Hope you guys enjoy this part! Lemme know what you think!

Being back on Destiny Islands, being home, feels weird at first to Riku.  Seeing his parents and having them cry over him had made him uncomfortable and guilty, but also made him feel loved.  Waking up in his bed everyday still felt strange and going back to school even stranger.  Along with Sora, Riku had to catch up on everything that Kairi had learned in their time away.  School and tests had always been something Riku had been good at, but it still caused him to struggle.

Everyday Sora, Kairi, and himself would study together and go over the material in the packets of work that were given to them by the school and help each other.  Eventually, Riku was catching up enough that the teachers were willing to let him join the regular class.  Sora on the other hand, seemed nowhere close to catching up.  He always seemed so distracted, zoning off and staring at nothing.

 

“Come on Sora,” Riku snapped his fingers in front of his friend’s face, startling him. “I don’t want to be here any longer then you do, so try and focus.  The more we get done, the less we have to do later.”

 

“Right, okay.”  Sora grumbled a bit before reading back over his paper.

 

Riku was a bit surprised, as if he had done that before their adventure, Sora would have whined and tried to push the work off till later.

 

‘I guess we’ve all grown up a bit.’  Riku thinks to himself as they get back to work.

 

A week passes and Riku is finally in the regular class, something that makes him feel vaguely guilty as he sees Sora stuck by himself in remedial classes.  Every day after his normal classes, he goes to meet his friend in the library and help him but Sora also points out that Riku will slip in his own studies if he focuses all on him and that Sora doesn’t need him there every day.  Sora makes a point, and Sora is stubborn and Riku eventually gives up and does what he’s told.

 

One afternoon after school, Sora is still in the library studying and Riku and Kairi are walking home together.

 

“I think something is wrong with Sora.”  Kairi says suddenly in the middle of a conversation about their math teacher and his atrocious homework.

 

“What?” Riku is started at the abrupt change of subject.  “Why do you say that?”

 

Kairi pauses and purses her lips as she looks out at the sea.

 

“I’m not sure.  He just seems so quiet lately and so different.”

 

Riku thinks about this before slowly making his way down the street again after he had stopped at Kairi’s statement.  A few seconds later and Kairi is following him.

 

“Maybe he’s just growing up.  We all have changed in these past couple of years.”  He suggests.

  
Kairi hums.  “That’s true.”

 

“Plus, he could just be missing Goofy and Donald.  He spent these past couple of years with them nonstop, maybe he just misses them.”

 

Kairi hums again, this time looking more like she believes what Riku is saying.

 

“Maybe that’s it.  I think I’ll try talking with him tomorrow and see if he’ll give me more insight to how he’s feeling.”

 

Riku smiled at his friend, making the young girl smile back.

 

“I think that’s a great idea.  Tell me how it goes, yeah?”

 

A couple of days later, Kairi reports back, teasingly saluting Riku even, as she tells him about how she spent time with Sora eating ice cream and that they had a good time.

 

“Ah, the old, lure him in with sweets huh?”  Riku teases her with a wide grin.

  
“Works every time!”

  
The two of them laugh together, and Riku feels a bit of the worry that had settled in his chest start to loosen.  Sora was fine, he was just having a bit of a time adjusting back home is all.  Besides, if there really was something wrong, Sora would tell them right?

 

A couple of months go by and it begins to get colder, and Riku can’t help but think the colder months are starting to resemble Sora, or at least, the other way around.  For so long the thought of summer and sun were mixed with thoughts of Sora.  The brunette’s smile was like a sun beam, spreading warmth throughout Riku that he often thought that if he had to choose the sun or Sora’s smiling face, he would always choose Sora.

 

Riku has always considered himself the analytical type and when dealing with his emotions often left him feeling weak and easily overwhelmed.  Something the darkness took advantage of all those years ago.  Riku had even thought what he had been feeling for Kairi had been some sort of strange form of love and desire, but Riku realized that his desire for her was to actually be her.  He had been jealous of her because once she had shown up; Sora’s sole attention on him was split to her as well.  It was during his time away from Sora, traveling with Mickey through the realm of darkness that he realized he was in love with Sora.  
  


Riku thinks of Sora and he thinks blue skies, the sound of laughter and his endless smiles given freely.  Riku looks at Sora now and thinks of an overcast sky, a dying fire, and that empty feeling with you’ve lost something important to you.  Riku isn’t sure why Sora is so different now, but he’s sure he’ll get better.  He’s Sora; he always gets up whenever something pushes him down…right?

 

He worries about Sora, worries how he seems to be pulling further into himself and Riku kicks himself for not seeing this earlier.  Kairi and him have a heated discussion in school in the corner behind the stairs where they think no one will bother them. 

 

“I told you something was wrong with him!”  Kairi hisses angrily at him.  This isn’t the first time Kairi is angry at him, for she had Words with him when they finally had a moment alone after they finally came home, but it always startles Riku since she’s usually so nice.  Kairi when she’s angry though, not so much.  “I told you something was wrong and I let you convince me that he was just missing his friends.  He’s gotten worse recently, and don’t pretend you don’t see it.”

 

Riku wasn’t going to, he couldn’t ignore it.  But seeing Sora like this, like a dying flame eventually being snuffed out, it terrifies him more than anything.

 

The two of them talk for a bit longer about Sora and how he’s changed; never realizing said person was now walking away after overhearing them.

 

“We have to do something.  Maybe if we hang out with him a bit more?”  Kairi bit her lip, a nervous tic of hers.  “I can try inviting him somewhere.”

 

“Yeah, we can try to get him to open up.  I just don’t think us both rushing him is going to work.”

 

“Riku,” The red haired girl stared at him with a hard stare.  “If Sora doesn’t come to us or if we can’t figure out what is wrong with him, the two of us are strong arming him into telling us.  Something is wrong and I refuse to sit around and wait any longer then I need to help him.”

 

“Okay.” Riku agreed.  “The winter exams are soon, so let’s make that our deadline.  If we keep trying to get him to tell us and he won’t, that will be when we pull out the big guns.”

 

“Not a second later, okay Riku?”

 

“Of course.  We’ll find out what’s wrong with him, I promise.”

 

After that conversation, the two of them ramped up on trying to get Sora to hang out with them.  At first, he gave them excuse about needing to do errands for his mother or that he had homework to finish, which were perfectly understandable. But the excuses got thinner and thinner while Riku and Kairi got more desperate.  Their thoughts were on Sora, even as the upcoming exams weighed down on them as well.

Finally the exams were finished, making Riku sigh with relief as he sat at his desk and used the heel of his hand to rub his eye.  He was so tired but he felt like he did well.  All around him fellow students were getting up and talking excitedly about the break from school.  Deciding to follow his school mates example, he started putting his stuff away when a figure stood in front of him.  Looking up from his bag, Riku found Kairi staring at him with a determined expression.

 

“Exams are over, let’s go talk to Sora.”

 

“Now?”

 

“Yes, now hurry up slowpoke before he leaves without us.”

 

Hurriedly packing, Riku followed his friend out of the school and into the courtyard, both of them searching the sea of students for the familiar spikey hair.

 

“Do you see him anywhere?”  He asked.

 

“No, not…Oh! There he is! Sora!”  She called out, jogging towards the gates and passing through the crowd as quickly and efficiently as she could.

 

Now that he knew where to look, Riku could spot Sora out of the crowd easily.  He quickly caught up to Kairi, easily outpacing her and calling out to his long time best friend and crush, only to have no reaction from the other.

 

“Did he not hear you?”  Kairi wondered aloud as they continued to sift through people to get closer.

 

Finally breaking through a crowd and getting closer to Sora, Riku reached forward and grabbed Sora’s arm.  At that moment, Riku sees several things happen at once.

 

Sora, whose head had been facing the ground and shoulder’s sagged, suddenly jerked upward and his entire body tense up the second Riku had grabbed him.  Riku saw Sora’s hand open and clench in a familiar motion, watching as a bright light brought Sora’s keyblade into hand where he grasped it tightly in familiarity.  Without being able to move in time, Sora whipped around and had the teeth of the keyblade at his neck.  Riku saw all of this, but he also something that scared him more than the sudden blade at his neck or the screams of his fellow classmates.

 

Riku could see the wide eyed and far away expression in Sora’s eyes.  He could feel the slight shake of the keyblade next to his neck as Sora’s hand shook, and he could hear the sudden intake of air that Sora took as he came back into reality.  Riku saw fear and regret bleed into Sora’s wide blue eyes as he stepped away from Riku, seemingly taking in what had just happened, before turning and running away.  Finally catching his breath, Riku called out to Sora, shouting his name.

But Sora was already gone, running away from them, from him.  Riku swallowed back the lump that grew in his throat before turning to Kairi.  The look of horror and shock on her face mirrored his own.

 

“Kairi, come on!”  He grabbed her gently but insistently by the hand, pulling her out of her shock induced daze.

 

“R-Right!  Let’s go find Sora.”

 

The two of them ran, hand in hand, after their best friend, ignoring the people who stared and exclaimed in shock around them.

 

The two of them searched for Sora everywhere they knew he had a favorite spot in town, even the places they knew he liked to go and be by himself.  They were unable to find him, so the two of them finally bit the bullet and went to Sora’s house.  Sora’s mother opened the door and seemed surprised to see them, if not happy to.

 

“Riku, Kairi, it’s so good to see you too.  Sora isn’t back yet, but you’re welcome to come inside and wait for him.  I’m sure it’ll do him some good for the three of you to hang out again.”  Sora’s mother beckoned them inside, but the duo hesitated.

 

“Oh, so he didn’t come home?  We must have missed him.”  Kairi said, mostly to Riku.

 

“Missed him?  Are you searching for Sora for a reason?  I’m sure he’ll be home soon.  You know Sora; he always gets distracted by something or other.”  The woman laughed, but it sounded a bit forced and made Kairi and Riku side eye each other.

 

“Miss, is something wrong?  With Sora, o-or in general I guess?”  Riku stuttered slightly over the look his best friend’s mother gave him. 

 

The woman whose looks are so much like Sora’s paused and sighed.

 

“He’s been so different recently.” She whispers.  “I thought it was just him being home after so long that he just didn’t remember where things were or that he didn’t remember certain jokes or memories between us but it’s as if there is a stranger in my house.”

 

She looked at the two of them with tears in her eyes, pleading.

 

“What happened to my baby?  Please, I don’t know what to do.  He’s changed so much and doing things I don’t quite understand and I’m scared.  I just…don’t know what to do.”

 

Riku blinked back his own tears that were beginning to burn at his eyes.  What was wrong with Sora?  Had something really been wrong this entire time and they just hadn’t realized?

 

“What kind of things has he been doing?”  Kairi asked.

 

“Well, I remember thinking it was strange when Sora looked at our photo albums together but never pointed out pictures or memories like he usually would.  I remember…I remember him looking at a picture of his father and thinking the way he looked at him was like a stranger.”

 

Riku remembers when Sora’s father died, he had been there for the funeral and he’ll never forget finding Sora hiding in the bathroom with his fist in his mouth so he wouldn’t make a sound as he cried.  That young and already thinking that he had to be strong for his mom spoke loudly of Sora’s character.  It would only make sense that Sora would try and hide how he was feeling if he was hurt; he was just the type to bottle up his real feelings.  Riku hates that he didn’t fully realize this until now.

 

“He’s started covering the mirrors in the house; I see him averting his eyes from any reflection of himself.  The worse thing that happened recently that scared me was when he was helping me cook dinner and he spilled boiling hot water all over his arm…Sora didn’t even scream or act like he was hurt.  He just healed with that green magic of his and said he was tired and wanted to go to bed…I couldn’t sleep that night because I was so scared.  It should have hurt him, but it was like he couldn’t feel anything.”

 

Sora’s mother wiped her eyes and the fear but also worry was clear in her eyes.

 

“Please, please tell me you know what’s wrong with my son.”

 

“We don’t…Not yet, but I promise we’re gonna find out.  That’s why we wanted to talk to Sora.  We’re going to get to the bottom of this; don’t worry.”  Riku promised, and the woman gave him a watery smile.

 

“Thank you Riku, you too Kairi.  I know I can always trust you two to keep my son safe.  I hope you find him soon.  He couldn’t have gone too far, right?”

 

Kairi and Riku said goodbye, and walked away saying nothing to each other for a while.  Riku looked around, about to ask Kairi where she thought they should look next when he heard a noise coming from her, and turned to look and see what was wrong.

 

The red haired girl had one hand covering her mouth, muffling her sobs as she had her other arm wrapped tightly around herself.

 

“Hey! Hey, Kairi, it’ll be okay.  We’ll find Sora and we’ll talk to him and figure out what’s wrong and then help him however we can, okay?”  Riku put a arm around her, holding her close.

 

Kairi fell against him, her body shaking.  After a moment, she seemed to compose herself and pulled away from Riku, wiping the tears from her eyes.

“Sora…Sora must have felt so alone.  He’s been hurting, and we had no idea.” Kairi looked into his eyes. “We can’t let that happen again.  We have to be there so if he’s hurting, or hurting himself, we can stop it help him through it.”

 

Riku felt the blood drain from his face.

 

“You think Sora may be hurting himself?”  He whispered, horrified.  Kairi shrugged, looking defeated.

 

“I don’t know.  How his mom said he reacted to having boiling water dropped on him though…That’s not normal.  Sora not even crying?  That same boy who cried for two days because he got a small splinter stuck in his toe?  It’s not right.” Kairi sighed, dropping her head and staring at her hands.  “I wish I had done something sooner.  I’ve had this bad feeling in my gut forever and I’ve done nothing about it.  I’m so sorry Riku.”

 

“Stop,” He firmly told her, holding her shoulders in his hands.  “This wasn’t your fault.  You told me months ago you thought something was wrong and I dismissed you then and I’m sorry that I did.  That’s my fault and I’m sorry.  But we also both know that Sora won’t say anything if he really doesn’t want to tell us what’s bother him unless we pull it out of him.”

 

“Yeah, I know.”  The two of them smiled at each other a little at the thought of their friend’s stubborn side.  “But Riku, it wasn’t your fault either.  We both made a mistake, but we can fix it.”

 

Riku nodded after a beat, agreeing to it, even if he didn’t fully believe that all of this wasn’t in some way his fault.

 

“So we checked his favorite spots around town, where else do you think he could have gone?”  Kairi pondered.  Within seconds, both of their heads shot up and looked at each other.

 

“The Island!”

 

The two of them were running down the street, towards where they kept their boats stored and quickly got into Riku’s boat and began paddling towards the island.  Luckily, with both of their rowing skills and the water being calm, they made it relatively quickly to the island, where they did indeed see Sora’s boat tied to the dock.

 

“Check this side of the beach, I’ll check the other side.”  He told Kairi, already running towards the walkway towards the other side of the beach.

 

He searched high and low, all through the palm trees, yelling Sora’s name over and over, but he’s wasn’t there.  Once he was sure he checked every section of that area, Riku went back, hoping Kairi had some better luck.  As he made his way back to the other side of the beach, he saw Kairi just coming down from checking the wooden rooms from up top.

 

“He’s not there?”  He asked, even though the answer was obvious.

 

“No, but there’s only one last place to check.” The red haired keyblade wielder turned and looked at the opening of the cave that lead to their ‘secret’ spot.  “If Sora is here on this island, it’s got to be there.”

 

Kairi lead the way inside and Riku followed.  The farther they got inside though, the more it felt wrong to Riku.  There was a feeling of darkness in the air, something he could recognize easily.

 

“Kairi, wait, be careful.”  He spoke too late, or Kairi just ignored him, as she walked into the cave room regardless.  Following quickly behind her, Riku looked around, but there was no sign of Sora.  The feeling of darkness was fading as well; whatever or whoever had come through here with the use of dark corridors must have been a while ago.  The horrible pit in Riku’s stomach reappeared again.  Who had come here?  Was it a friend or a foe?  Where was Sora if he wasn’t here?

 

“He’s gone.”

 

Riku turned from where he had been staring at where he could feel the presence of darkness towards Kairi.  She was kneeling on the ground, her hand shakily touching the wall.  He hurried over to her and squatted next to her.

 

“Kairi?  What’s wrong?  Who’s gone, Sora?”  Riku struggled to keep the panic out of his voice.  He had to be calm, he had to be in control.  If Sora really was gone, if something had happened to him…Sora would need him to be calm.

 

“Look.”  Kairi’s voice was so desponded that it scared Riku.  Even with as scared as that made him, he had to see what was upsetting her.

 

He looked to where on the wall Kairi had been looking and his heart immediately sank. The picture that Kairi had drawn of Sora all those years ago, one that she treasured, had been scrapped over until it was hard to tell there was ever a face there once.  Written next to it was an obviously rushed message on the way that made Riku lose all hope of finding Sora on Destiny Islands.

 

**Sorry**

**Be back someday**

**-Sora**

 

With those four little words, Riku’s world fell out beneath him.

 

He had failed Sora again.

 

** End **

**Author's Note:**

> *dabs* Thanks for reading! hmu on my twitter at @kicktheinu or my tumblr at @inumaru12 tho fair warning, I'm a lot more active on twitter then tumblr!


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